LOS ANGELES (MCT) — Modern humans have gotten incomparably good at survival, doing more to extend our lives over the past century than our forebears did in the previous 6.6 million years since we parted evolutionary ways with chimpanzees, according to a new study.

In fact, humans in societies with plentiful food and advanced medicine have surpassed other species used in life-extending medical research in stretching our longevity and reducing our odds of dying at every point along our ever-lengthening lifespans, the study finds.